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1.
Marc Sztatecsny Doris Preininger Anita Freudmann Matthias-Claudio Loretto Franziska Maier Walter H?dl 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2012,66(12):1587-1593
Conspicuous male colouration is expected to have evolved primarily through selection by female choice. In what way conspicuous colours could be advantageous to males scrambling for mates remains largely unknown. The moor frog (Rana arvalis) belongs to the so-called explosive breeders in which spawning period is short; intrasexual competition is strong, and males actively search and scramble for females. During breeding, male body colouration changes from a dull brown (similar to females) to a conspicuous blue, and we wanted to test if male blueness influences mating success or facilitates male mate recognition. To do so, we first measured the colour of mated and non-mated males using a spectrophotometer. In an experiment, we then analysed interactions of actual male moor frogs in natural spawning aggregations with a brown (resembling a female or a non-breeding male) and a blue model frog. Mated and non-mated males did not differ in colouration, suggesting that female choice based on colour traits was unlikely. In our behavioural experiment, male moor frogs spent significantly more time in contact and in amplexus with the brown model than with the blue model. Our results suggest that the nuptial colouration in moor frogs can act as a new type of visual signal in anurans evolved to promote instantaneous mate recognition allowing males to quickly move between rivals while scrambling for females. 相似文献
2.
Katalin Bajer Orsolya Molnár János Török Gábor Herczeg 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2010,64(12):2007-2014
The role of ultraviolet (UV) signals in intraspecific communication has been identified in a number of vertebrate taxa. In
lizards, the signalling role of UV has only been shown in male–male competition and male mate choice. Here, we investigated
whether male UV colour can be a basis of female association preference in European green lizards (Lacerta viridis), a species where males develop blue nuptial throat colouration with high UV reflectance. We experimentally manipulated the
UV colour of male pairs, where the members of the pair did not differ significantly in body length, body weight, head size,
throat UV chroma and brightness or throat blue chroma and brightness measured prior to colour manipulation. By providing these
pairs of males to females (only visual stimuli could be perceived by the females), we assessed the role of UV in female association
preference irrespective of other potentially important visual traits. We found that unmated but receptive females preferred
males of higher UV reflectance. Our results show for the first time that UV colour can be an important male signal in female
preference in reptiles. 相似文献
3.
D. J. Green H. L. Osmond M. C. Double A. Cockburn 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2000,48(6):438-446
Empirical and theoretical studies have only recently begun to examine how females use complex multi-component displays when
selecting mates. Superb fairy-wrens are well suited to the study of female choice because females have control over extra-group
paternity and cuckold their mates at high rates, while males possess a variety of sexually selected traits. Available evidence
suggests that females base their extra-group mate choice on the timing of male moult into breeding plumage or the onset of
display. However, males continue to perform elaborate displays throughout the season, and direct most displays to females
during their fertile period. We therefore conducted focal observations on fertile females to quantify the frequency of male
display and used microsatellite genotyping to compare the role of display rate during the breeding season and the timing of
male moult on female mate choice. We show that the addition of data on male display rate does not improve our ability to predict
which males obtain extra-group paternity. The timing of male moult into breeding plumage remains the only predictor of male
extra-group reproductive success. Nevertheless, we found that males displayed more to females that were unable to select extra-group
mates on the basis of the timing of moult or the onset of display. This raises the possibility that there are circumstances
when females use display rate to discriminate between potential extra-group sires. Overall this study supports the theoretical
prediction that females are more likely to base their mate choice on reliable indicators of male quality such as fixed morphological
traits and displays of endurance, in this case an early moult into breeding plumage and the performance of an elaborate display
during the winter, than a flexible behavioural trait such as display rate during the breeding season.
Received: 26 January 2000 / Revised: 1 August 2000 / Accepted: 26 August 2000 相似文献
4.
Ioana Chiver Bridget J. M. Stutchbury Eugene S. Morton 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,62(12):1981-1990
Extra-pair fertilizations are common in many socially monogamous species, and paternity studies have indicated that females
may use male vocal performance and plumage ornaments as cues to assess male quality. Female off-territory forays may represent
a key component of female choice and male extra-pair mating success, and female foray behaviour is expected to be strongly
influenced by indictors of male quality. In this study, we examined how male song and ornamentation affect how often females
left their territories, which males they visited and extra-pair paternity in a socially monogamous passerine, the hooded warbler
(Wilsonia citrina). We radiotracked 17 females during the fertile period and quantified male vocal performance (song output and rate) and plumage
characteristics (size of the black melanin hood and colour of the black hood, yellow cheeks and breast areas). We obtained
blood samples and determined paternity at 35 nests including those of 14 females that we radiotracked. Eleven (65%) of the
17 females forayed off-territory, whilst fertile and female foray rate was positively correlated with the number of extra-pair
young in the nest. Females that left their territories more frequently were paired with males that sang at a low rate. In
addition, extra-pair mates had higher song rates than the social mates they cuckolded (5.3 songs/min vs. 4.4 songs/min). Female
off-territory forays or extra-pair paternity were not significantly related to male plumage characteristics. Our results indicate
that a high song rate influences both the foray behaviour of a male’s social mate and the likelihood that he will sire extra-pair
offspring with neighbouring females. 相似文献
5.
Female yellowhammers (Emberiza citrinella) prefer yellower males: a laboratory experiment 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
Jan Sundberg 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1995,37(4):275-282
The importance of male plumage coloration as a signal of male dominance and a cue for female choice in the monogamous yellowhammer, Emberiza citrinella, was tested in two sets of experiments in an indoor aviary. Dominance was tested by introducing two individuals, with no previous experience of each other, in an aviary with food and water. Aggression occurred more often between two males than between a male and a female and more frequently between pairs of males including at least one old male than between two young males. Dominance was not related to male colour in trials between males of the same age class, but it was in trials between an old and a young male, often differing in colour. Thus, age may be a more important determinant of dominance than colour. Female preference for more colourful males was tested by allowing hormone-induced females to choose between a more and a less colourful dummy male. Females spent more time in front of more colourful than drabber males and also more often perched beside colourful males than duller individuals. Although male colour cannot be ruled out as a dominance signal, the results suggest that male colour is primarily used as a signal in mate choice. Female choice may hence be responsible for maintenance of bright plumage in the male yellowhammer. 相似文献
6.
Several experimental studies have shown that female birds use ornamental melanin and carotenoid plumage coloration as criteria
in mate choice. Whether females choose mates based on natural variation in structural coloration, however, has not been well
established. Male eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) display brilliant ultraviolet (UV)-blue plumage coloration on their head, back, wings, and tail, which is positively correlated
with condition, reproductive effort, and reproductive success. We experimentally tested the hypothesis that female eastern
bluebirds prefer as mates males that display brighter structural coloration by presenting breeding-condition females with
males of variable coloration. We conducted two types of mate-choice experiments. First, females chose between males whose
coloration was manipulated within the natural range of variation in the population; feathers were either brightened with violet
marker or dulled with black marker. Second, females chose between males with naturally dull or bright plumage coloration.
In both manipulated and unmanipulated coloration trials, female choice did not differ significantly from random with respect
to structural coloration. We found no support for the hypothesis that the UV–blue coloration of male eastern bluebirds functions
as a criterion in female mate choice. 相似文献
7.
Gladbach A Gladbach DJ Kempenaers B Quillfeldt P 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2010,64(11):1779-1789
Although studies on the evolution and function of female ornaments have become more numerous in the last years, the majority
of these studies were carried out in cases where female ornaments were a smaller and duller version of the ornaments found
in males. There are substantially fewer studies on species with female-specific ornaments. However, no study so far investigated
the potential of female-specific colouration as a quality signal in birds with conventional sex roles. We studied female-specific
ornamentation in a strongly sexually dichromatic species, the upland goose Chloephaga picta leucoptera, in two consecutive years. Male upland geese have white head and breast feathers and black legs, whereas females have reddish-brown
head and breast feathers and conspicuous yellow-orange legs. We found that female-specific colouration in upland geese can
reliably indicate different aspects of female phenotypic quality. Females with more orange coloured legs and more red-like
head colours had higher clutch and egg volumes than females with a paler leg and head colouration, and a more reddish plumage
colouration was related to a higher body condition. These relationships provide the theoretic possibility for males to assess
female phenotypic quality on the basis of colouration. Furthermore, the females with a more orange-like tarsus colouration
had higher plasma carotenoid levels. Both tarsus colouration and carotenoid concentrations of individual females were highly
correlated across years, indicating that tarsus colour is a stable signal. Despite this correlation, small individual differences
in plasma carotenoid concentrations between the two study years were related to differences in tarsus colouration. We thus
show for the first time in a wild bird and under natural conditions that carotenoid-based integument colouration remains consistent
between individuals in consecutive years and is also a dynamic trait reflecting individual changes in carotenoid levels. In
this species, where pairs form life-long bonds, the honesty of the carotenoid-based integument colouration suggests that it
may be a sexually selected female ornament that has evolved through male mate choice. 相似文献
8.
Commonly, female birds use the brightly coloured patches on males to choose the best-quality mates. Coloured wing patches, however, have received little attention or have been previously related to social behaviour (as a signal to recruit conspecific individuals at feeding patches) or foraging (to flush prey) contexts, rather than to sexual selection. Here we provide evidence that in siskins (Carduelis spinus), wing patches function in mate choice. Mate-choice experiments showed that females were attracted by the size of the yellow wing stripe of the male, but not by the size of its black bib, body size, general plumage brightness or age. Experiments on birds with manipulated yellow wing stripes showed that females were sensitive to the size of this colour patch, irrespective of other male qualities. The preference of female siskins for males with larger wing patches when searching for a mate may be explained by the relationship of this trait to foraging ability, which would ensure females good parental investment from the chosen male.Communicated by W.A. Searcy 相似文献
9.
Numerous fishes possess UV vision and show UV patterns, which often play a role in social communication, especially during
courtship. UV light is scattered strongly in water and thus might be used for intra-specific close-range communication without
being detected by predators. In addition to the red-belly colouration and blue-coloured iris, male three-spined sticklebacks
possess UV reflectance on their skin, and females prefer males presented with UV light rather than without. To investigate
whether UV also influences male visual preference for females in this species, we used a dichotomous mate choice design in
which one female could be viewed by a male in two visual conditions. Courting male sticklebacks preferred females that were
presented in full-spectrum conditions including UV to the same females presented in conditions lacking this light component.
Furthermore, control trials with neutral-density filters indicated that male preference in the UV treatment was not affected
by a difference in achromatic brightness between the UV+ and UV− stimuli. Reflectance measurements of gravid females suggest
an enhanced UV contrast between the dark bar pattern, which is characteristic of gravid females, and silvery body parts. 相似文献
10.
Peter Korsten Oscar Vedder István Szentirmai Jan Komdeur 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2007,61(12):1933-1943
Structurally based ultraviolet (UV)-reflective plumage parts can be important cues in mate choice. However, it remains largely
unknown if UV plumage variation can also function as a signal of social status during competitive interactions. In blue tits
(Cyanistes caeruleus), the UV-reflective crown plumage functions as a female mate choice cue that probably indicates male quality, as males with
higher UV reflectance have been shown to have better chances of over-winter survival. Possibly, the UV crown plumage acts
as a status signal in the competition over scarce food sources during winter. To test this idea, we related dominance of individuals
at an artificial food source during adverse winter conditions to spectrophotometric measurements of their crown plumage. However,
while controlling for the confounding effects of sex, age, and distance from territory, we found no significant effect of
crown UV reflectance on dominance. Consistent with this result, we also found no relation between crown UV reflectance and
over-winter survival. We conclude that the structurally based UV reflectance of the blue tit crown feathers plays little role
in competition between individuals during winter despite its importance as a cue in mate choice. 相似文献
11.
Nadia Silva Jesús M. Avilés Etiénne Danchin Deseada Parejo 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,62(12):1969-1979
Animals may assess the quality of other individuals by using information that different ornaments may provide. The European
Roller (Coracias garrulus) is a socially monogamous species in which males and females display highly conspicuous plumage colouration. According to
the mutual selection hypothesis, we predicted that, in this species, plumage coloration could signal individual quality in
both sexes because both female and male rollers invest a considerable amount of time caring for their offspring. We used spectrophotometric
measurements to investigate the information content of multiple plumage colour traits. We found that the roller is actually
a sexually dimorphic and dichromatic species. Different plumage colours from different origins were correlated within individual.
Head and back brightness correlated with body condition in both sexes, and in males, head brightness correlated with the number
of fledglings in successful nests, while head green-yellow saturation correlated with parental provisioning. Meanwhile, in
females, back brightness was related to the number of fledglings in successful nests and to parental provisioning rate. In
addition, there was a positive assortative mating in relation to weight, body condition, head green-yellow saturation and
back brightness. Finally, we found a positive correlation between parent and offspring coloration. Altogether, these results
suggest that multiple colour traits may act as quality indicators in the roller and that they may be used by the two sexes
to assess potential mate quality. 相似文献
12.
Studies on fish have demonstrated female-mating preferences based on dimorphic colours and colour patterns, but commonly focused on the 400-700 nm (visible) band. In experiment 1 we exposed females of the amarillo (Girardinichthys multiradiatus), a viviparous fish with visually based female mate choice, to two views of males either containing (UV+) or lacking (UV-) information in the 300-400 nm region. Experiments were conducted outdoors, and we found that females spent more time next to the male seen through the UV+ filter than the same seen through the UV- filter. Since the two images only differed in the content of UV radiation, we conclude that females of the amarillo can detect UV light. Experiments 2 and 3 were designed to test whether such an effect can be attributed to female preferences based on the males' UV-reflecting colour patterns. We first assessed which area(s) of the fish have UV-reflecting properties. Then, using an opaque gelatine powder to block skin reflectance, we found that, in the presence of environmental UV light, females spend more time close to the males with powder sprinkled outside the UV-reflecting area (control) than to the males with powder sprinkled over the UV-reflecting area (experiment 2). This could have been due to the concealment of signals in the visible spectrum, rather than in the UV spectrum; thus we repeated the same experiment indoors, in the absence of UV light (experiment 2b); here females failed to discriminate between males. Since we also found that females have UV-reflecting areas in their flanks, we conducted a third experiment to test whether the preferential association of females found in the first experiment was due to the tendency to school/associate with conspecifics, rather than to mate choice (experiment 3). We found no evidence of discrimination in this experiment. We conclude that the UV markings and vision in G. multiradiatus have a function in female mate choice. This is the first time that evidence has been found for the influence of UV for mate choice in fish. 相似文献
13.
Why do female pied flycatchers mate with already mated males: deception or restricted mate sampling? 总被引:3,自引:0,他引:3
The polygyny threshold model suggests that females make an optimal choice between mated and unmated males. However; in birds in which males provide parental care, the fitness of secondary females is often lower than expected from this model. This has been explained by the deception hypothesis, which states that males hide their mating status and deceive females into polygyny. Yet there is no direct evidence that secondary females are unaware of male mating status when they settle. Alternatively, females settle with mated males as a result of mate competition and costs of searching. We used videofilming at nestboxes defended by males to study mate sampling of female pied flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca. The females visited on average only 2.74 males (range 1–8, n = 43). Most (16 of 19) of the polygynous matings occurred because females had only visited mated males, or the unmated males visited became occupied by competitors during the sampling period. Among females that could choose between both mated and unmated males, the majority (13 of 16) settled with unmated males. These results lend little support to the deception hypothesis but are consistent with the view that females are able to detect male mating status but sometimes settle with mated males because of cost of searching. Prospecting females seemed willing and able to suffer the cost of fighting with aggressive primary females in the males' secondary territory if no alternative mating options were available. In addition to male mating status, females took male quality (plumage colour, age) into account in mate choice but the former appeared to be the more important.
Correspondence to: T. Slagsvold 相似文献
14.
K. J. Norris 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1990,27(4):275-281
Summary Previous work on great tits suggested that female mate choice was based on the characteristics of the male rather than the quality of his territory. The aim of this paper was to see whether females were deriving any direct benefits as a result of such choice by comparing male plumage colouration (the size of the central black breast-stripe) with the quality of parental care provided by both members of the pair. Males with large stripes were more likely to defend their broods because their nest attentiveness was higher increasing the chances of predator detection. Males with large stripes produced heavier fledglings primarily as a result of faster growth early in the nestling period. Previous work on great tits has shown that heavier fledglings have a higher survival probability than lighter ones. The results of this study can more easily be explained by differences in parental quality between males rather than as a result of variation in female or territory quality. Therefore, female great tits could increase their reproductive success by pairing with males with a large stripe because such males appear to be better quality parents. This suggests that female choice in the great tit may concern, at least in part, the quality of male parental care. 相似文献
15.
R. Terry Bowyer Janet L. Rachlow Kelley M. Stewart Victor Van Ballenberghe 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2011,65(12):2251-2260
Evidence of female fomentation of male–male aggression as a mechanism of mate choice is rare, especially in mammals. Female
choice of mates in polygynous species may be masked by intense male competition or by males attempting to restrict female
choice. We studied protest moans of female Alaskan moose Alces alces gigas in interior Alaska, USA, from 1987 to 1990, to determine if moans incited male–male aggression. Alaskan moose exhibit a mating
system in which one dominant male (the harem master) herds, defends, courts, and attempts to mate with females in his harem.
Protest moans were given by females only in response to courtship. We hypothesized that if protest moans were related to females
reducing harassment and exercising mate choice, females should give protest moans more frequently when courted by small males
and less often when courted by large males, and that rates of male–male aggression would be elevated following protest moans.
Harems were composed of one large male, with a mean of 4.4 females (median = 3 females); 10% of 132 harems included ≥10 females.
The temporal pattern of protest moans from late August through November was associated with, but tended to lag behind, mating
behavior. The rate of protest moans given by females decreased with increasing size of males courting them. Male–male aggression
was significantly less during periods without protest moans than during periods in which protest moans occurred. These results
indicate that female moose gave protest moans to reduce harassment by smaller males, and assure a mating opportunity with
the most dominant male. Such a subtle mechanism of indirect mate choice by females may occur in other vertebrates in which
choice is limited by a mating system in which male–male combat and male dominance over females reduces opportunities for female
choice. The importance of female choice may be undervalued in studies of sexual selection in mammals. 相似文献
16.
Maud Bonato Matthew R. Evans Dennis Hasselquist Richard B. Sherley Schalk W. P. Cloete Michael I. Cherry 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2013,67(12):1891-1901
One of the most important measures of offspring performance is growth rate, which is often traded off against another important survival trait, immune function. A particular feature of ostrich chicks maintained in farmed environments is that cohorts of chicks vary widely in size. As parents can have a profound effect on the phenotype and fitness of their offspring, we investigated whether chick growth and immune defence were related to variation in levels of immune defence in their genetic parents. As secondary sexual traits of sires could serve as indicators of male quality, and be used in female mating decisions, we also investigated whether chick growth rate and immune defence were related to male plumage and integumentary colouration. We found that offspring growth rates and humoral responses were related to the humoral responses of their parents, suggesting that at least some components of humoral immune capacity are heritable. The white colour of male ostrich feathers was correlated to the humoral response and growth rate of their offspring, suggesting that this visual cue involved in the male courtship display could serve as an important signal to females of male quality, thereby forming the basis of mate choice in this species. 相似文献
17.
The effect of male coloration on female mate choice in closely related Lake Victoria cichlids (Haplochromis nyererei complex) 总被引:12,自引:3,他引:9
We studied the effect of male coloration on interspecific female mate choice in two closely related species of haplochromine
cichlids from Lake Victoria. The species differ primarily in male coloration. Males of one species are red, those of the other
are blue. We recorded the behavioral responses of females to males of both species in paired male trials under white light
and under monochromatic light, under which the interspecific differences in coloration were masked. Females of both species
exhibited species-assortative mate choice when colour differences were visible, but chose non-assortatively when colour differences
were masked by light conditions. Neither male behaviour nor overall female response frequencies differed between light treatments.
That female preferences could be altered by manipulating the perceived colour pattern implies that the colour itself is used
in interspecific mate choice, rather than other characters. Hence, male coloration in haplochromine cichlids does underlie
sexual selection by direct mate choice, involving the capacity for individual assessment of potential mates by the female.
Females of both species responded more frequently to blue males under monochromatic light. Blue males were larger and displayed
more than red males. This implies a hierarchy of choice criteria. Females may use male display rates, size, or both when colour
is unavailable. Where available, colour has gained dominance over other criteria. This may explain rapid speciation by sexual
selection on male coloration, as proposed in a recent mathematical model.
Received: 11 April 1997 / Accepted after revision: 27 July 1997 相似文献
18.
Martin N. Muller Melissa Emery Thompson Sonya M. Kahlenberg Richard W. Wrangham 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2011,65(5):921-933
The extent to which active female mating preferences influence male reproductive success in mammals is unclear, particularly
for promiscuously breeding species like chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Previous studies from multiple long-term study sites have shown that female chimpanzees mate more restrictively around
ovulation, and this has been taken as evidence for female choice. However, none of these studies rigorously evaluated the
alternative hypothesis that restrictive mating results not from unconstrained choice, but in response to coercive mate guarding,
in which males use punishment and intimidation to reduce female promiscuity and promote their own mating interests. Nor did
they consider evidence for the potential genetic or phenotypic benefits that females might be choosing. Using 11 years of
data from the Kanyawara community in Kibale National Park, Uganda, we previously demonstrated that males achieve elevated
mating success with those females toward whom they direct high levels of aggression. Here we extend those findings to show
that even female copulatory approaches, which have previously been attributed to female choice, are correlated with male aggression.
Specifically, individual females at our site initiated periovulatory copulations most frequently with the males who were most
aggressive toward them throughout their cycles. Those males showed high rates of aggression toward females throughout estrus,
despite achieving high copulation rates, demonstrating a continuing conflict of interest over the exclusivity of mating access.
Because sexual coercion is potentially widespread in primates and other mammals, our results stress the importance of considering
the influence of male aggression in studies of female choice. 相似文献
19.
Peter D. Dijkstra Els M. van der Zee Ton G. G. Groothuis 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,62(5):747-755
Mate preferences on male colour have been implicated in generating and maintaining species diversity among haplochromine cichlid
fish. Their lek-like mating system suggests that not only male colour but also territory quality is instrumental in mate choice.
We assessed the relative importance of territory quality and male colour in mate choice by testing whether territory quality
can override the female preference for males of her own colour in the Lake Victoria cichlid genus Pundamilia. First, we showed in experimental groups that the dominant male preferentially monopolised a large tube relative to a small
tube. The situation mimics quality difference in rocky crevices that serves as a focal point for male courtship display. Second,
in mate-choice tests, Pundamilia nyererei females were allowed to choose between closely related P. nyererei and P. pundamilia males; these species differ strikingly in male nuptial coloration, but little else. We gave either both males the same small
tube or one of them a large tube. The preference of P. nyererei females for P. nyererei males in the control situation (where both males had a small tube) was significantly diminished in favour of P. pundamilia males when the latter had the large tube. The results provide experimental evidence that differences in territory quality
can override the female preference for males of her own colour. This finding is critical for a recent hypothesis proposing
that male competition for mating territories can facilitate the process of sympatric speciation by sexual selection. 相似文献
20.
Sarah A. Collins Christene Hubbard Anne M. Houtman 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1994,35(1):21-25
Studies of female mate preference in zebra finches (Taenopygia guttata) have shown that male beak colour and song rate are important. However, the two characters are correlated. Here the effect of beak colour and song rate on female choice are examined independently. In mate choice tests involving two males, beak colour was manipulated artificially using nail varnish. The results showed that females showed a significant preference for males with a high song rate, but not with a red beak. Females did not prefer males with a red beak if song rate was low and females preferred males with orange beaks who expressed a high song rate. Female preference for males with red beaks was not found when beak and song characters were no longer correlated. 相似文献